Sunday, February 17, 2013

Love.Cook.Learn at Pink Poppodom, Hotel Ista

An afternoon well spent with good wine, sneak peek at Pink Poppadam on a Saturday sounds fun, isn't it? Poshvine announced their Valentine's day special Love.Cook.Learn event in Ista Hotel, we made a note of it and made ourselves free for the event. Sister offered to babysit so I was relaxed. The attractive offer was for Rs.1250 per person, Live Cooling demo of 3 course session carefully chosen wine paired 3 course meal and a bottle of wine(Blush) to take home !!!

Ista Hotel has made it's huge impressive mark and it offers its guest spactacular views of The Ulsoor Lake and cityspace. Perfect balance of great comfort and ultimate in style. Four Seasons Wine joined hand in hand with the event at Pink Poppodom. Our sitting arrangement was next to glass windows and each of the six seats was separated by pink colored drapes under pink ceiling. I bet it adds a lot of glamor to the place during night.Mr. Abhay Kewadkar made a quick visit while we sat for our round table 3 course tasting session. He enlighten us with food pairing wine techniques. For someone who is novice, it was a learning experience. After a breif introduction Chef Gautam Chaudhry handed over the show to Chef Sumeet Priyadarshi.

So the menu was Ricotta Kabab on a bed of Zucchini Carpaccio paired with Four Seasons Sauvignon Blanc, Seafood Hot Pot paired with Four Seasons Chenin Blanc, Rose Syrup infused Strawberry Phirni paired with Four Seasons Blush. Chef Sumeet was friendly with his small audience, explaining the little nuances of cutting techniques, induction and cooking tips. While making Ricotta Kebab one thing he mentioned was to avoid the heat of your hand when handling ricotta cheese, as the addition temperature will make it melt easily. And then you will end up adding more gram flour which eventually will effect the final taste.

1) First dish was Ricotta Kebab on a Bed of Zucchini Carpaccio.

2) Second dish was Seafood Hot Pot whish had Pomfret, squid and prawns in a coconut and Kodumpuli flavour.

And here is the final dish garnished with fried lotus root chips and some chilli oil.

3) Rice Phirni with Rose Infused Strawberries

The taste was out of this world as the desi phirni was blended so well with rose syrup strawberries.

Three cheers to Poshvine for conducting such fun workshops. Also would like to thank Ginger Claps for inviting me at Ista Hotel for this wonderful event.